the animal club

The Animal Club Sketch Comedy Collective assembled in Point Park University's performing arts conservatory in Pittsburgh, then moved to Chicago to live under one roof and play in the lush comedy fields of the Windy City. With Chicago as their homebase, the group performed everywhere from Broadway to a theatre where you had to step over a toilet to get on stage, traveling in vans that smelled like Wisconsin cheese curds and sweat.

Their live and film sketches were seen around the country for seven years at venues like Carolines on Broadway, The San Francisco Sketchfest, Sketchfest NYC at UCB, Seattle Sketchfest, Chicago Sketchfest, iO Chicago, Miami Improv Festival, the Chris Farley Charithon, Sketchingham, and The Second City’s Donny’s Skybox.

After sold out performances of their first run at The Second City Training Center's Donny’s Skybox, they were invited to return for a three month extended run and were nominated for four Donny Awards including “Best Sketch Show”. One of their short films was also chosen to represent The Second City at The Austin International Film Festival.For their finale show, they reunited all twelve members that had been a part of the group over the years. It was a sold out show in the town where they started, Pittsburgh.

​Scroll down for video sketches. ​

​“…one of the best young groups in the country... an enviable gift for the absurd, the Animals sell their hilarious scenes and characters without a whiff of desperation to get a laugh.”​-Beth Lisick, The San Francisco Chronicle SFGate.com

​"A comedy-blitzkrieg the audience is helpless to resist. Ranging from postmodern vaudeville to grownup slapstick, the sketches are fast paced and leave little room for recovery. Like a cartoon for adults, The Animal Club is upbeat and goofy without losing in intelligent writing and razor-sharp witticisms.”